Citizens & Northern (NASDAQ:CZNC) & Magyar Bancorp (NASDAQ:MGYR) Critical Comparison

Magyar Bancorp (NASDAQ:MGYR) and Citizens & Northern (NASDAQ:CZNC) are both small-cap finance companies, but which is the superior stock? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their dividends, analyst recommendations, institutional ownership, valuation, earnings, profitability and risk.

Dividends

Magyar Bancorp pays an annual dividend of $0.32 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.9%. Citizens & Northern pays an annual dividend of $1.12 per share and has a dividend yield of 5.5%. Magyar Bancorp pays out 20.5% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Citizens & Northern pays out 63.6% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Both companies have healthy payout ratios and should be able to cover their dividend payments with earnings for the next several years. Magyar Bancorp has raised its dividend for 3 consecutive years.

Profitability

This table compares Magyar Bancorp and Citizens & Northern’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Magyar Bancorp	15.00%	8.56%	0.97%
Citizens & Northern	16.81%	9.75%	1.06%

Institutional & Insider Ownership

46.3% of Magyar Bancorp shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 30.8% of Citizens & Northern shares are held by institutional investors. 7.4% of Magyar Bancorp shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 4.5% of Citizens & Northern shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Magyar Bancorp and Citizens & Northern”s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Magyar Bancorp	$58.42 million	1.85	$9.76 million	$1.56	10.74
Citizens & Northern	$112.19 million	3.25	$25.96 million	$1.76	11.65

Citizens & Northern has higher revenue and earnings than Magyar Bancorp. Magyar Bancorp is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Citizens & Northern, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of recent ratings and recommmendations for Magyar Bancorp and Citizens & Northern, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Magyar Bancorp	0	1	0	0	2.00
Citizens & Northern	0	4	0	0	2.00

Citizens & Northern has a consensus price target of $22.00, indicating a potential upside of 7.32%. Given Citizens & Northern’s higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Citizens & Northern is more favorable than Magyar Bancorp.

Volatility & Risk

Magyar Bancorp has a beta of 0.25, suggesting that its stock price is 75% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Citizens & Northern has a beta of 0.57, suggesting that its stock price is 43% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Citizens & Northern beats Magyar Bancorp on 11 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Magyar Bancorp

Magyar Bancorp, Inc. operates as the holding company for Magyar Bank that provides various consumer and commercial banking services to individuals, businesses, and nonprofit organizations in New Jersey, the United States. It accepts various deposit accounts, including demand, savings, NOW, money market, and retirement accounts, as well as certificates of deposit. The company also provides residential mortgage loans, multi-family and commercial real estate mortgage loans, home equity loans and lines of credit, commercial business loans, and construction loans, as well as small business administration loans. In addition, it offers non-deposit investment products and financial planning services, including insurance products, fixed and variable annuities, and retirement planning for individual and commercial customers; and buys, sells, and holds investment securities. The company has branch offices located in New Brunswick, North Brunswick, South Brunswick, Branchburg, Bridgewater, and Edison, New Jersey. Magyar Bancorp, Inc. was founded in 1922 and is headquartered in New Brunswick, New Jersey.

About Citizens & Northern

Citizens & Northern Corp. is a holding company, which engages in community banking. It provides a full range of banking and mortgage services to individual and corporate customers in North Central Pennsylvania and Southern New York State. The firm’s lending products include mortgage loans, commercial loans, and consumer loans. Its deposit products include various types of checking accounts, passbook and statement savings, money market accounts, interest checking accounts, individual retirement accounts, and certificates of deposit. The company was founded in 1864 and is headquartered in Wellsboro, PA.